Kjeld Nuis made a very nice end to his season on Sunday at the World Cup Final in Heerenveen. The thirty-year-old skater won the 1,500 meter in a track record and thus also won the World Cup.
Nuis rode Thomas Krol in Thialf and the two teammates didn’t push each other to a high level for the first time. They both dived under the track record of Russian Denis Yuskov (1.43.36), but the win went to Nuis: 1.43.00 at 1.43.30.
The podium was completely orange, because Patrick Roest won the bronze with 1.44.00. The Canadian Tyson Langelaar (fourth in 1.45,46) was the first non-Dutchman in the 1,500 meters at a great distance.
The Chinese classification leader Zhongyan Ning got no further than place five (1.45,69), while Yuskov only finished tenth in 1.46.56.
Nuis therefore passed both skaters in the world cup classification, which means that for the second time – after the 2016/2017 season – he won the World Cup victory in the 1,500 meters. Krol rose to third place.
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Tatsuya Shinhama. (Photo: Pro Shots)
Shinhama
The track record also fell at 500 meters. The Japanese Tatsuya Shinhama came close to the 34-second limit: 34.06
The Canadian Laurent Dubreuil dived in the two stages earlier with 34.30 as first among the top time in Thialf (34.31) and took silver. The Japanese Yamato Matsui (34.36) finished third.
Since December 2013, Michel Mulder has been able to call himself the fastest man ever on the 500 meters in Thialf. The Russian Pavel Kulizhnikov equaled that time last year, while Shinhama also rode 34.31 on Saturday.
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